The Johannesburg-based University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) School of Mining Engineering plans to increase its normalised research output as a primary strategic initiative in its quest to join the top 100 universities in the world by 2022.

This initiative is part of the university’s Vision 2022 strategy, and research output in terms of quantity and quality, is an essential criterion used in world rankings. The School of Mining Engineering recognises that it should work ‘actively’ on improving its research output and indicators of quality, such as the number of National Research Foundation-rated academic staff, staff with PhDs and research awards received by staff and students.

As part of the initiative, the school recognises that, in order to increase its normalised research output, it must undertake several “interlinked” actions

The school’s research output is measured in terms of awarded MSc and PhD research degrees and articles published in refereed, subsidy-earning research publications that are accredited by the Department of Higher Education and Training.

However, to “meaningfully” measure research progress, the Wits School of Mining Engineering notes it is necessary to normalise the research publications units. In this regard, the school says an acceptable measure of parity over years and across schools is the number of research publications output units per academic staff member or per senior lecturer research equivalent (SLRE).

The SLRE is a notional measurement scale that is produced by applying specific factors to categories of staff. These units are: full professor: 1.3, associate professor (or adjunct professor): 1.1, senior lecturer: 1.0, lecturer (or senior tutor): 0.8 and associate lecturer (or tutor): 0.6.

The university’s target for normalised research output for publications is a minimum of 2.0 research output units per SLRE a year.

During the period 2010 to 2015, Wits was able to increase the amount of normalised research publication units and plans to extend on this growth going forward to reach its target of 2.0.

Further, in terms research output, the Wits School of Mining Engineering moved from being in the bottom three schools within the seven faculties at Wits to the top three.

Highlighting measures taken in 2015 to increase its rankings, the schools says its normalised research output increased by 71% on 2014 levels. The school’s students were also able to showcase their research through 18 conference papers that were presented and published as part of the proceedings of the twenty-third edition of the International Symposium on Mine Planning and Equipment Selection in 2015.

Moreover, between January and December 2015, six PhD students graduated from the school, one student graduating with a Doctor of Engineering degree.